Non-Advertising Prexie Covers

Although this is a First Day Cover, I believe it qualifies as a Prexie cover, at least four times over!

2 cents 1938 Plate Block on FDC

--Jim
stampguyaps177-681

This Prexie ship-canceled cover from 1940 was posted aboard the USS Babbitt, a destroyer
named after Fitz Babbitt, a US Navy First Lieutenant on the 44-gun frigate President. Babbitt was killed in action in 1815 by British warships although the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 with Britain had been signed in December 1814. News had not yet reached the United States or the British command at sea.

--Jim
stampguyaps177=681

This uprated US postal stationery cover was sent in 1947 to inaugurate Northwest Airline's flight to Shanghai, China. A ten-cent and two five-cent Prexies were added to the envelope's five-cent rate, paying a total of twenty cents.

--Jim
stampguyaps177-681

Thanks, John. Your guess is better than mine.

Basil

Thanks, Battlestamps!

Nice covers, Jim

Hi Basil,
Happy to assist - past forgotten. John is probably correct, but to be absolutely sure the back should bear two (2) (sometimes one) red-violet, double-circle mailing post office dated-handstampsbearing the mailing date; that will provide the year of mailing and correct rate translation.

A two more split-rate usages AIRMAIL/SURFACE or SURFACE/AIRMAIL. To those unfamiliar, specific ships could be designated for you mail to travel on until the outbreak of WWII. Researching the ships can be very interesting as well as who was doing the mailing. The name on the first cover, coupled with the return address on the reverse side confirmed the addressee.







TRIPLE FIRST CLASS RATE


HAND CANCEL POSING AS A MACHINE CANCEL


THE SUPPLEMENTARY MAIL RATE & USAGE IS VERY SCARCE


The airmail rate to and from the U.S. and Puerto Rico & THE VIRGIN ISLANDS was ten cents per half ounce from March 22, 1929 to January 15, 1945.



10C INTERNATIONAL AIRMAIL POCT CARD RATE


THERE WAS A SPECIAL TREATY RATE BETWEEN PUERTO RICO AND CANADA

TRUPLE WEIGHT, UPU SURFACE LETTER RATE


QUADRUPLE (4X), FIRST-CLASS LETTER RATE


DOUBLE WEIGHT AIRMAIL RATE SOLO USAGE


PREXIES USED AS POSTAGE DUE

John, This cover shows is a prime argument against yours in our initial discussion. This is inter-company mail sent to a Large, well-known entity of the time. The mailing post office forwarded the cover by airmail and 6c postage due was collected at the Canton, MA. Postage Office at the time of mail pick-up; as the mail probably went to Large Corporate Mail Box. The Canton, Ma. Post Office would have never held the mail for postage and mailed a Form 3548 to Los Angeles, Ca.; they knew Plymouth Rubber Company, Inc., as a large corporate manufacturer.

Everyday, probably a secretary, went to the Canton, Ma. Post Office to pick-up the corporate mail. Notice there is no "P.O. Box" on the address line - reason- Plymouth may not have had a real physical "Box". At the time of mail pick-up the mail would contain a pile a separate (sometimes banded) stack of mail requiring signatures or payment of postage due. The Postage Due was paid at the point, at the window. A Temporary Window Clerk may not have been provided a Stamp Drawer stocked with Postage Due stamps. Thus, the Window Clerk used Prexies, in lieu of normal Postage Due stamps, to pay postage due fees.

Additionally, during the World War II and the Korean War you had two additional problems: 1.) severe periodic paper shortages, and 2.) BEP back-up due to the paper shortages and war demand requirements that impacted stamp production. Case in point: The BEP could not print the OVERRUN NATIONS ISSUE of 1943-1944 due to the excessive war printing demands of WWII and thus subcontracted stamp printing to The American Bank Note Company.

All of these reasons lead me to believe Dave Phillips' contention that Prexies were periodically used and/or substituted, as needed, as lower value Postage Dues. Common sense says if a Postal Clerk indicates Postage is Due and you pay for it, you expect something placed on the envelope to prove payment. The Clerk had to show the transaction as the sale of stamps at that time… and the Clerk probably didn't care what stamps they used if they didn't have (or have access to) low-value postage dues in a Stamp Drawer. To a clerk, payment of postage due is payment of postage due, in-spite of whatever the regulations in the DMM.

The way Dave expressed it to me the shortages were sporadic and short-lived appearing randomly at some post office; offices were never out of Dues long enough to raise an issue or red flags.

M.P.O. (MILITARY POST OFFICE) USAGES ARE AN INTERESTING COLLECTING FIELD: CHOOSE WWII. KOREA, DOMESTIC BASES OR PEACETIME


1ST CLASS, LOCAL DELIVERY + SPECIAL DELIVERY
SPECIAL DELIVERY IS AN INTERESTING STUDY AREA


POSTAL UNION OF THE AMERICA TREATY RATES ARE INTERESTING,
SOMETIMES I THINK POSTAL CLERKS WEREN'T AWARE OF THEM.


DOUBLE WEIGHT UPU SURFACE RATE, 1953-1958


15C QUINTUPILE (5X) DOMESTIC 1ST CLASS


15C UPU PRINTED MATTER RATE


15C UPU EUROPEAN AIRMAIL POST CARD RATE


FOR ME, THE MORE MARKINGS THE BETTER...


AND SOMETIMES THE MORE STAMPS THE BETTER...

ANOTHER TWO MORE EXAMPLES OF PREXIES USED AS POSTAGE DUES

HERE IS A COVER THAT SUPPORTS JOHN BEEKER'S USAGE OF A FORM 3548.
In this case, a "Blue Pencil" cancels the 9c Prexie paying the Postage Due -- the same (or similar) Blue Pencil that made the notation "9" on the Postage Due Request.

Depending on the size (Classification) of a Post Office, ones or more Clerks were assigned the duty to handle items including: Postage Due, Postage Meters, Address Correction, Return to Sender, Yearly Permits (Precancel Usage, Bulk Mail, 2nd Class Permits, 3rd Class & Firm Mailing Books, Deposit Accounts -- ANYTHING dealing with PO Forms like a Form 3548. In our local PO it was handled by the Box Clerk.


I believe this is another example that supports a FORM 3548 usage

No, both due pieces in your previous post were returned to the sender. They served as their own postage due notice. Whether the sender wished to apply the additional postage and remail the letter was up to them.

My general point is that it is often impossible to determine the operational details about why a cover has due stamps vs postage stamps to pay a deficiency. Attributing it to a shortage of due stamps, a specific notification form, the whim of the window or nixie or box clerk, etc., is pretty much a guessing game. If I were doing write-ups on such pieces I would state what is known and omit conjectures.

re: 9 cent Harrison ... It would be hard to convince anyone this is truly a 3x rate based on weight, rather than a 1x rate "convenience philatelic overpayment" to obtain the coincidence of a Harrison stamp used from Harrison, NE. I would probably write the cover up as: "gives the appearance of a 3x rate cover, but is far more likely a convenience overpayment of a single rate letter to get the Harrison stamp/cancel combination."

Hi John,

On the "Postage Due Pieces" I can definitely Agree with you on the 4c piece and reserve judgement on the 9c -- and that is only because of the "blue pencil" strike. The "strike thru" seems too coincidental. Also, I will change my write-up on the Harrison, Ne. handstamp.

Thanks for the great input. It's nice to have intelligent philatelic discussions on this complicated area.

Any thoughts on the Censor Marking I posted earlier?

Best,
Hal

Not sure which censor marking you are referring to.

9 cent due cover to Italy: the Brant Lake (no Y) machine cancel is a Columbia-Ielfield.

Yes, some covers are certainly complicated, but I try to remember that most letters are rated correctly, most are handled logically, and the simple answer is usually correct.